Infrastructure Committee Wrap-up
On Wednesday, November 10th the Illinois Chamber Infrastructure Council hosted its quarterly meeting featuring US Representative Marie Newman of the 3rd Congressional District (southwest Chicago) and RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard.
Chairman Dillard said the pandemic has demonstrated that mass transit is irreplaceable. Not only is transit critical for how people get to work but also for how people receive services. He also highlighted its benefit toward the mitigation of environmental concerns and reduction of congestion on the roads. The Chicago metropolitan area would need 34 more lanes of expressway to meet the demand that mass transit handles in the region. My mind was blown when he said that emptying out the Sears Tower of office workers without the use of mass transit would take 12 hours of continually loading into automobiles out front!
Dillard said that the Chicago area has one of the lowest operating costs per mile for major cities. Other large cities like London and New York spend between three times more and nine times more than Chicago area mass transit.
Answering a question on how autonomous vehicles will impact mass transit, Dillard said the RTA needed to be innovative. He said the Authority has never feared innovations like rideshare, rather they have sought to partner with the innovators. He said If there is a downside to autonomy it is that the highways will be more congested. Dillard did mention a private autonomous vehicle pilot company that wants to partner with the RTA to pick up riders and drive them to stations.
Dillard also spoke of the fare box changes that would allow the RTA to use federal funds for recovery. This required state changes that were supported by the Chamber in HB 106 during veto session.
Representative Newman spoke about the recently passed federal infrastructure package. Saying that Congress passed the most transformative infrastructure package in the nation’s history. She also credited the bipartisan manner of the package. Considering the size of the 1.2 trillion-dollar package, Newman believes 5-6 months was a quick timeframe for passage.
Following the event, Representative Newman issued a statement on her participation. "For decades, Congress has put modernizing our infrastructure on the back burner, resulting in incomplete transit projects, broken roads, eliminated bus routes, and transportation deserts in far too many communities across the country and in my own district...”
She added, "I was honored to speak directly with the members of the Illinois Chamber to discuss just how impactful this bipartisan legislation will be for residents and workers for Chicago's Southwest Side.”
Ryan Gleason of the US Chamber noted that the infrastructure package was 25 years in the making for those in the business community.
To conclude the event, I highlighted the passage of the electric vehicle incentives package during veto session in October. HB 1769, the Reimagining Electric Vehicles act. The Chamber supported the first amendment to this bill as it greatly helped component manufacturers as well as the vehicle manufacturers.
Amendment 2 and 3 of the legislation contained components of labor peace agreements on labor neutrality which is objectionable to the Chamber. However, there was tax language in the bill that the Chamber is highly supportive of and helped draft. The tax language removed the Chamber’s opposition and passed unanimously in the Senate. The bill had only two no votes in the House. A detailed breakdown of this bill was in the previous newsletter.
With a lighter session schedule, the Chamber looks forward to hosting the next Infrastructure council meeting early in the Spring.
Illinois State Freight Advisory Committee
The Illinois State Freight Advisory Committee met last week of which I serve as a member on behalf of the Chamber. Deputy Transportation Secretary Doug House addressed the committee about his excitement for the federal transportation bill and how he believes it builds on the success of the state’s 2019 bill.
Next to speak was Steve Travia the new Director of Highways since July 2021 (Steve was previously with District 1 in the Chicago region). Steve gave an update on the amount of work IDOT has let over the last two years which includes 400 engineering contracts at 900 million and 2000 construction contracts for $4 billion in work.
Steve said the next letting will approach up to $600 million. He expects a 25% program increase with the passage of the federal bill
Finally, in IDOT personnel news, a new statewide construction engineer Lora Rensing was introduced. I worked with Lora when I was in District 8 and she’s a fantastic hire for the Department.
For those of you curious about the districts, Region 5 construction engineer to be announced before Thanksgiving. District is currently missing all 3 of its bureau chiefs but all three are expected to be filled very soon.
How Will the Federal Infrastructure Bill Impact Illinois?
Above, I quoted IDOT’s Director of Highways that he expects a 25% increase in the highway program thanks to the federal legislation. With the Mayor and the Governor at the White House today for the bill signing, let’s take a look at what this means for Illinois:
Water: $1.7 billion to improve drinking and wastewater infrastructure
Roads and Bridges: $9.8 billion for federal-aid highway projects and $1.4 billion for bridge replacement and repairs. In addition to this guaranteed money, the state will be eligible to compete for competitive grant programs
Public Transportation: $4 billion over 5 years. This will allow things like making the CTA 100% accessible and going fully electric with the bus system. Like roads, mass transit can compete for additional grant money
Broadband: A minimum of $100 million to expand coverage across the state.
Airports: $616 million over 5 years. Includes the creation of a new Airport Terminal Improvement Plan
Electric Vehicles: ~$150 million over 5 years to support a charging network. There is another $2.5 billion in nationwide competitive grants.
